1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in magazines for hand guns and, more particularly, pertains to new and improved base pads which attached to the open bottom of a magazine tube.
2. Description of Related Art
One of the most critical problems confronting the designers of sports hand guns used for target and staged shooting competition is the design of a magazine that carries a maximum number of bullets within the size and specification for the hand gun. Since all shooting competitions are timed, the changing of an empty magazine during the competition is wasted time. The bulk of competition hand guns are built on the Colt 1911 frame, which is the standard side arm issued in World War II by the U.S. Military. The hand guns built on these frames may be made in a variety of calibers such as 9 mm, 10 mm, 45 and 38 calibers.
The 1911 guns all utilize multibullet magazine tubes which have an open bottom and a shaped top through which the rounds are individually fed into the chamber of the gun. The follower is spring-mounted and moves the rounds up from the bottom of the magazine through the shaped opening in the top of the magazine into the chamber of the gun. The follower is usually made out of a hard synthetic material such as Delron. The bottom of the magazine tube is closed off by a removable base pad which may also be made of Delron. Because the 1911 Colt frame has a standard size, the magazine tubes that fit within that frame must also be a standard size, thereby limiting the round holding capacity of the magazine.
Aftermarket conversion kits for magazines abound. These are only capable of adding one round to the holding capacity of the magazine and still remain within the dimensional requirements set out in the rules for USPSA or IPSC competition.